Pensionfund Sabic bought a new stake in Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 26,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,691,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Monster Beverage by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,277 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,002,142 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,325,000 after purchasing an additional 34,101 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Monster Beverage by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,335,460 shares of the company’s stock worth $262,159,000 after purchasing an additional 289,340 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter valued at $1,399,000. Finally, Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan acquired a new position in shares of Monster Beverage during the 4th quarter valued at $527,000. 66.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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MNST traded up $0.57 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $64.10. 2,454,507 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,671,029. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $64.13. Monster Beverage Corp has a one year low of $47.74 and a one year high of $66.38.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $946.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $919.49 million. Monster Beverage had a net margin of 26.61% and a return on equity of 28.35%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.38 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Monster Beverage Corp will post 2.09 EPS for the current year.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MNST shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Monster Beverage from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley set a $111.00 target price on shares of Procter & Gamble and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Credit Suisse Group set a $77.00 target price on shares of Monster Beverage and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Macquarie set a $325.00 target price on shares of Arista Networks and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of GENEL ENERGY PL/ADR from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.17.

In other Monster Beverage news, Director Mark J. Hall sold 394,341 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.58, for a total transaction of $24,283,518.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Guy Carling sold 24,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.82, for a total transaction of $1,579,680.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,207,273.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 443,103 shares of company stock valued at $27,415,776 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

About Monster Beverage

Monster Beverage Corporation, through its subsidiaries, develops, markets, sells, and distributes energy drink beverages and concentrates in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Monster Energy Drinks, Strategic Brands, and Other. The company offers ready-to-drink packaged energy drinks, carbonated energy drinks, non-carbonated dairy based coffee and energy drinks, non-carbonated energy shakes, and non-carbonated energy drinks primarily to bottlers and full service beverage distributors, as well as sells directly to retail grocery and specialty chains, wholesalers, club stores, drug stores, mass merchandisers, convenience chains, food service customers, and the military; and concentrates and/or beverage bases to authorized bottling and canning operations.